“The world is on fire and in the middle of the chaos Irish women are fighting for their rights” Derry Girls star Siobhan McSweeney on her International Women’s Day inspiration

"I do consider myself to be a wild woman!"

Siobhan McSweeney gives a hearty chuckle down the phone line. "I've been living in the UK on and off for 15 years and I am comparatively wild. I'm thought of by the English as being wild sometimes when I open my mouth or the actions I take. But I don't think it's a bad thing!" The Derry Girls star will give a public talk in Galway tomorrow as part of the 'Wild Atlantic Women' series of events to mark International Women's Day. Siobhan's talk will be followed on Sunday by a multi-sensory sunrise performance by international poet and sound artist Caroline Bergvall and a public conversation between EU Prize for Literature winner Jan Carson and Galway author Elaine Feeney. To conclude, there's an interview with renowned Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood. Galway is, of course, the European Capital of Culture 2020 and has an amazing programme of 1,900 events running throughout the year covering everything from music, dance, poetry and theatre to food and sport. Siobhan says that, to her culture is "what makes life worth living".

"You can work to live or live to work but art and culture are what makes a place worth living in. It's what makes us people with souls and not capitalist automatons."

Written by Lisa McGee, the hugely successful Derry Girls showed us a different side of Irish culture, one in which a Take That concert is every bit as significant as the visit of an American President. It's something that, Siobhan says, has resonated not just on both sides of the border but across the globe.

"There's a universality to what Lisa has created. Myself and all of the cast get contacted from all over the world by people who relate to the show. They might come from different cultures and speak different languages, so their lives are superficially different, but they see themselves in the show. Art connects us. "Plus, it's good to be reminded that teenagers are awful."

So Sr Michael's pained eye rolls come from a place of truth? "The eye rolling is all Siobhan McSweeney!" she laughs. Of course, they are directed at the fictional Derry girls and not the show's cast with whom Siobhan is incredibly close. She says that they keep in constant touch, with congratulations being sent all around this week at the news that both the show and cast member Saoirse Monica Jackson had been nominated for Royal Television Society Awards. When it comes to celebrating inspiring women we often look to international's figures, but Siobhan says that there are plenty of amazing women on our own shores.

"The world is on fire at the moment and in the middle of all of that chaos, Irish woman and fighting for their rights, telling their stories and bringing themselves out of the shadows. It's utterly inspiring."

For tomorrow's Galway 2020 event, Siobhan will be publicly interviewed by writer Susan McCay, the "original Derry Girl" as Siobhan puts it, who was one of the founders of the Belfast Rape Crisis Centre. I offer that Siobhan is an inspirational woman herself – I've personally been inspired by her outspoken support on issues like abortion rights in Northern Ireland and by het confidence in speaking publicly on social and political matters. Siobhan says that her confidence comes from her family, who always encouraged her to speak out. Margaret Thatcher isn't often viewed as a positive role model in Ireland. The same is true for many religious communities in light of the ongoing revelations about institutional abuse. I wonder whether it's odd for Siobhan to be best known for playing a nun? It's these kind of themes that Siobhan will be discussing at tomorrow's sold out talk in Galway. The day's events are set to finish with a full moon swim at Ceibh a’Lochain. "I'm going to drag Margaret Atwood in with me!" laughs Siobhan. A wild woman indeed.